Senate leaders announce two-year budget deal

11 February 2018

Senate leaders reached a long-term budget deal to fund the government on Wednesday - despite President Trump's desires for a government shutdown and a showdown on immigration. Trump said speaking to law enforcement panel.

One day before a threatened USA government shutdown, Senate leaders on Wednesday struck a bipartisan deal that would keep the federal government funded for two years but left contentious immigration topics unaddressed.

The bill is opposed by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi because Republican House leaders will not guarantee her that they will allow a debate later on about taking steps to protect some 700,000 "Dreamer" immigrants from deportation. "Give us a vote, let the House work its will", said Pelosi. "I want them to have to answer people at home who said, 'How come you were against President Obama's deficits and then how come you are for Republican deficits?'"

The Senate vote was delayed until past midnight by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul - who spoke passionately for hours on the Senate floor Thursday evening as he tried to force a vote on an amendment that would effectively undermine the budget deal.

"This budget deal is the first real sprout of bipartisanship", said Schumer, D-New York.

He also said that the deal has the support of the White House, although he did not provide any specifics in that regard, Efe reported.

It is expected that the deal would spend the fiscal levels of 2018 and 2019 and decline the second prospect of the government shutdown on Thursday, when the measure spent by a stopgap will expire.

Earlier, the White House has advised United States federal government agencies to prepare for a shutdown, an official said, as Congress hit a stumbling block in its efforts to pass a stopgap spending bill before midnight. Pelosi asked of Ryan in a lengthy speech on the House floor. At the same time, many liberal Democrats wanted to withhold their support as leverage to win concessions on immigration policy.

The Democratic leader has dropped his push to use the budget talks to extract concessions on immigration from Republicans, leaving aside threats to shut down the government over the issue.

The Senate has reached a budget deal.

Senate Democrats made a decision to delay their fight to protect the almost 700,000 young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, which in part led to last month's three-day shutdown.

Having been forced to do this in the context of the budget, Ryan will be under greater pressure, as Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in his remarks on the floor, to do the same on any "dreamer" deal that comes out of the Senate.

Pelosi repeated demands for a government funding agreement that includes consideration of Dreamers-800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

"We support an increase in funding for our military and our middle class". House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pledged on the House floor early this morning that he also meant to address immigration.